Tag: Luke

“Woe to you when all speak well of you.” | Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:20-26)

Jesus said to his disciples: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

In speaking to the great crowd of disciples who came to hear him, Jesus begins his Sermon on the Plain first with the beatitudes and then with the woes. As he begins speaking, Luke tells us that he raises his eyes toward his disciples. This image of Jesus, who appears first to reflect before speaking, echoes his retreat to the mountain to pray before choosing the Twelve Apostles. As he looks among the crowd, it’s not difficult to imagine that he looks up to see before him many men, women, and children who live in poverty. His first words, “Blessed are you who are poor,” are supportive and compassionate. He goes on to speak to the hungry, the sorrowful, the outcasts, and he says as he looks at them: “Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.” In addressing the woes of humanity—the conditions of wealth, satisfaction, unbridled pleasure—Jesus reverses the goals or values of this world in order to draw people to God’s kingdom.

Father in heaven, I want to understand today’s readings as they relate to my life. Who is Jesus addressing when he looks up to speak to the disciples? He looked at them with love and spoke his sermon long ago, but the risen Christ continues to speak today to everyone who would hear him. I have many blessings—more than I can count. Does that mean I will someday grieve and weep and lack honor in the eyes of others? That could be and might someday be the case. And what then? Jesus will speak to me still: “Blessed are you.” And then I take in the words of Saint Paul, who says, “Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly.” I think either way, Jesus says, “Come to me in the Eucharist. Hunger for me; thirst for me; strive to make me your joy.”

“From the responsorial psalm: “Rejoice and leap for joy! Your reward will be great in heaven.” Hear me in your mercy, Lord; let me hunger for your Word. Saint John Chrysostom, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaVQ82g2C4

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:12-19)

And [Jesus] came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.

After spending the night in prayer, Jesus chooses the Twelve Apostles, including Judas Iscariot, who would betray him. After choosing them, Luke tells us that the apostles come down the mountain with Jesus, where he stands on a stretch of level ground. There he meets a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of people. From the mountaintop where Jesus prays, he carries with him and transmits to the people on level ground the divine love between the Father and the Son. They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases and unclean spirits. The miracles Jesus performs come from communication with his Father and is immediately passed on to the people, as Luke says, “because power came forth from him and healed them all.”

Father in heaven, please help me understand the trust that Jesus placed in you as he prayed to you on the mountain. The choosing of the Twelve came through your Son’s discernment through communication with you in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the same Holy Spirit, help me share in the love between you and the Son, placing my trust in his divinity. As Saint Paul says of Jesus in the first reading: “For in him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily, and you share in this fullness in him, who is the head of every principality and power.” Give me the grace to listen out for your Word with the same ardor with which the crowds sought out Jesus to hear him, be healed by him, and follow him.

From the responsorial psalm: “I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever.” Through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, Lord hear my prayer.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:6-11)

On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.

The scene Luke sets in today’s Gospel presents the trickery of the Pharisees in their attempt to catch Jesus transgressing Mosaic law. Without their approaching Jesus directly, the Pharisees have playing out before them what they believe is a perfect dilemma: Will Jesus cure on the sabbath? Luke goes on to tell us that Jesus understood their intentions, and asking the man to stand before them, he said to the Pharisees: “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Jesus asks the man to stretch out his hand, and he cures him. But the Pharisees become furious, and they discuss together, as Luke says, “what they might do to Jesus.”

Father in heaven, I turn to you in today’s readings to know you better, to come nearer to the source and end of love itself. “Only in God be at rest, my soul, for from him comes my hope,” I read in today’s psalms. You, Lord, are the sabbath rest that my soul seeks. Just as the man with the withered hand put his trust in Jesus, I also stretch out my hand to receive your mercy and healing. Taking refuge in you, enveloped in your love, give me the opportunity today and the grace to be a refuge to others and to be a witness to the mercy and self-sacrificial love of Christ.

From the first reading: “It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.